Saturday, 19 December 2015

One of the most enjoyable parts of what we do here apart from guiding individuals (and all animals) towards better health both physically and mentally through diet and positive activities that suit each individuals chemical balance, as well as give the correct form of stimulation for mental contentment, is to allow the individual to speak through us with regards what they, as an individual, would like to do or what type of an owner they would like to have if they had to be moved on or sold on.

Sadly many, individuals/animals, are not given this chance or instead are dictated by humans as to what they should do, or perhaps more to the point, what they want to do themselves without giving the animal /individual their own choice or a ' Voice of their own!'

When it comes to animals or ones that are commonly kept as a pet or competitive pet, or indeed a working pet/animal - such as dogs, horses, elephants, pigs and many more, many are trained in different ways (some cruel, some not so cruel and of course the other way where 50/50 communication comes in or partly comes in). But why do animals have to be trained at all? perhaps because ;

The human enjoys certain sports involving specific animals

The humans job is made easier using an animal as a working partner

The human thinks the animal looks the part for specific competitions

The human wants to keep up with other humans, or as the commonly used phrase says ' They want to keep up with the Jones's!'

The human needs what ever animal to work for them for financial gain, no matter the state of health both physically or mentally - Take Kabu the elephant who was crippled at an early age but still used for logging. or Raju, the bull elephant who was used as a street beggar tied and chained with spurs and regularly beaten in the process similar to that of Sunder the Temple elephant who was beaten when his owner felt like beating him!

Or they want a specific type of cat, but because it may, as an example, be a quality type or an expensive one, it may rarely be allowed to go outside, or is kept as a house cat only. Of course there are some cats who prefer to be inside - but given their choice in the wild, they would be out hunting, playing or just playing with others of their own species - or perhaps tormenting the neighbours caged rabbit but coming back for attention from its' own sort in its' own time not necessarily when other animals (a.k.a. Humans!) dictate it should get attention.

For whatever reason, sadly, often animals have to be moved on, and there are a thousand reasons why, apart from it being only a human decision it happens, and this moving on process is unlikely to change for as long as humans are in existence. Often, although definitely not often enough, owners want to try and do his/her best by the animal and wants them to go somewhere suitable where it wont just be regularly moved on from pillar to post and this is where we are asked to step in to find out from the animal what kind of an environment or people or other animals they would like to be surrounded by if they are moved on. But, as mentioned before, sadly not enough animals are given this choice because humans want to make a financial profit (in steps human greed yet again!). But for those who are given the choice the results are amazing and usually, a long term, forever caring, home is found, unless human physical or mental health poses a problem.

So back to this beautiful horse who has such a kind eye. Like most horses when first born, they are loved and fed well, then the human intervenes and, in this instance she was trained to race, which sometimes can not be that easy for the horse depending on the trainer(s) of course. Later on she was then discovered by a lady who found her malnourished to the point that she was of no use and her future did not look rosy, but after some persuading the lady convinced the owner to sell her after which time she was fed, cared for, loved and eventually ridden but ill health prevented this lady from keeping her so she was determined to find her a similar caring home, which she did. But a year later, the young lady who rode her left school, went to college, as many do, and managed to get a placement in a yard hundreds of miles away but sadly she could not take this beautiful mare with her because the owner of the yard only accepted Warm bloods and not thoroughbreds! so with this in mind another home is needed for this beautiful girl.

The main questions asked was what kind of riding did she want to do, was it racing, hunting eventing, jumping, dressage, general hacking out or another and her favoured one was . . . . . Dressage and then Show jumping if she had to, but dressage was her favoured option. The next question, did she want to go to a male or female owner and it was the latter she chose but she also gave us the rough age and colour of hair she wanted her future female owner to have. Interestingly enough, her present owner had said that she had been told there had been a blonde haired lady who had been negatively involved with her which could explain why she wanted a darker haired lady as a future owner. One of the other questions was did she want to be with other horses, her answer; just two or three but no more. These answers gave her present owner guidelines to go by and she has assured us that this little beautiful creature will find a home suitable no matter how long it takes, so with that we reassured the Mare that everything will be okay.

Often when an animal has to be moved on for a reason such as this the owner can carry a feeling of guilt which indeed was the case here, they also felt that with College the horse had not been exercised as much as they felt it should have been but in this particular instance, and because of this horses past, she needed to have a few months off to grow, to put her negative thoughts and fears aside and to realise that, actually, she wasn't going to be pushed every day to her limit, which had clearly happened at some stage in her past. Still being fed, watered, nourished with care and being considerately ridden occasionally was fine by her and indeed ten times more pleasant than some of the things she had experienced in the past. Having relayed this information to her present owner, she understood and that awful feeling of guilt reduced dramatically.

Our over all opinion of having any animal is that it is a shame that when people take them on they can't give them that long term feeling of mental and physical security, because sometimes having many moves / owners the animal can suffer from Behavioural and Mental issues, some of which can be troublesome for others to sort out. In view of this we would ask everyone to seriously think whether they do have the time, or the long term commitment to take an animal on, or if it's going to be awkward why not see if someone else can share the animal with you, so that if you do have to move on then at least, for the animals benefit, they could be continued to be looked after by a 'known person'

On behalf of all the animals who have been re-homed but who were never given their choice of what type of a life they would like to lead perhaps from here on in, you will give your animal this option, Thank you.

Monday, 7 December 2015

Sunder's new chapter of his book of life continues. . . . living the life of an elephant, well almost, just as an elephant should.Our original post on Sunder dated 28th December 2013 which was a few months after we had been asked to scan him. Sunder not only touched our hearts but millions of others, and it is thanks to all the support he received from everyone and of course Save All Elephants, PETA India, Carol Buckley and many others that he is where he is now. He has moved the hearts of many and through his story other elephants voices have been heard. For us to see him now, after scanning him then . . .

is truly wonderful. He put up with so much unnecessary abuse for far too long, although sadly not as long as many others who are still being abused.

However to see this update on him now, and to see the care he is getting completely melts our hearts even further.

Sunder you are a fine Majestic King and we are so so sorry that the human race put you through such pain, upset, cruelty and fear. We know why you never fought back, and your patience or the way you held on to that thin, thin piece of thread for sanity deserves a massive medal and sheer acknowledgement.

Wednesday, 2 December 2015

How many times do you see someone in front of you with a stick, they rest it against a counter and then it slips on to the floor, you politely say ' I'll get it for you' but for those who are filled with pride, say ' No, it's okay I can manage' then before you know it, both the stick and the stick handler is on the floor the wrong way up!

This very clever elderly gentleman, once a keen walker, decided he was fed up of his stick always falling and his pride being dented to boot that he went in to a wee shop to ask if they could sew on an inch and a half piece of braid on to his jacket. This piece of braid then become a home for his faithful stick when it wasn't in use - an absolutely ingenious idea, and one that we thought we would share with you all.

Once a person gets used to hooking it on, it becomes automatic and their faithful stick will never slip away again.

So, the method in this tale is easy, find a piece of braid, sew it on to the opposite side of the hand the Stick user uses and their stick will always be within easy reach.

Because of this great invention we are going to call it the 'Raymond Stick' .

"This new U.S. patent could signal the end of pesticides, herbicides and GMOs" if only exploitation could be included in this!

The above phraseology needs to change to "This new U.S. Patent WILL end all pesticides and GMO's!' (and wishful thinking on our part - exploitation)

If everyone truly knew exactly all the illnesses that are caused by these then nothing would move off the Supermarket shelves until there was food KNOWN not to have any chemicals or contact with pesticides at all.

Let's name just a few health issues that are often found to be triggered by Chemicals and Pesticides in humans and many of our pets and wild animals via ingestion, inhalation and absorption;

This term 'No pesticides, No chemicals' needs to be patented world wide! for they are rapidly killing the earth, the atmosphere and many animals.

It doesn't take much research to realise the following;

37% of Methane Emissions result from factory farming!

90 million tonnes of carbon dioxide go in to the atmosphere every year via fossil fuels used in energy, transportation and synthetic pesticides/ fertilizers!

Factory farming can also release harmful compounds such as Hydrogen Sulphide and Ammonia which can cause immediate negative effects in humans and animals!

More than a million sea birds and mammals are killed every year by ingestion of plastics!

Chemical run-offs from farms has apparantly created 400 dead zones!

Acid rain causes discharges toxic amounts in to water systems!

Noise pollution is driving many creatures to extinction!

And within 25 years due to deforestation there will be 28,000 species driven to extinction!

If we don't do something about it now, it's not only going to be good bye to many species but it will be good bye to humans as well!

If you are concerned about this, which you all should be! then please, consider what you eat and drink, stop buying anything with chemicals in it, stop buying the foods that have a shelf life of 30 days or more! stand up for the general Health and Well-being of this planet earth and our fellow animals, birds and fish that are supposed to be sharing it with us - after all the planet does not belong to humans - then and then only will the supermarkets and the 'Markerters', The producers market and the Pharmaceutical market realise that they will have to change their ways!

Encourage your youngsters to read or to research the true state of the Earth and its' animals, show them the pictures that are painful to watch, show them the hidden world that goes on unbeknown to many. Encourage them to make a difference, to have pride in the earth and it's living creatures (especially the largest animals of this planet - the elephants and whales),

exclude exploitation of all the millions of animals and humans who go through severe pain every minute of the day all thanks to Human Financial gain! Perhaps encourage them to study some of the following - instead of following the sheep or just copying someone else because they don't know what Profession to go in to.

Animal and Environment protection Animal Behaviouralism Wildlife RehabilitationWild Animal HusbandryVolunteerHabitat specialistAnimal Cruelty investigator Animal nutritionalist Marine EcologistNaturalist, Conservationist, Environmental scientist? Climatolology, Political scientist ... Eco-biology, Conservation Veterinarian Eco studies Ecological politicsScientist Journalism - Documentary film maker Writer Artist- many people's views are changed by what they see & read & changes are made in the world by the power of public opinion & their ability to vote &/or protest.

Humans are causing more destruction than any other animal - what gives them the right to destroy the Earth?

If you agree with any of this please share this information and start to change the state of the earth now and our children's children will live in a much healthier world . . . on behalf of millions - thank you for taking time to read this post. In the meantime remember what humans have done to the earth, it's not animals who have nearly destroyed it, it's humans and it's only humans who can start to fix there forefather's and foremother's errors.

For updates on this site press follow, or like our facebook page which covers some of the information within this Site.

Wednesday, 18 November 2015

All different times of the year can be hard for individuals, especially for those who live on their own. Many put on a brave face but are confused, sore, sad or distraught, never seeing one person from one day to the next. Often choosing to become a hermit perhaps due to pressure, or sadness or an inability to cope with the paths that life has taken them on.

But Winter time brings added issues, and Christmas time can be horribly lonely for many, but peaceful for others and a whole doze of fun for many more. Some are not able to cook that awesome Christmas meal, so why not add an extra few potatoes and vegetables in to your pan, make a slightly bigger cake or an extra Dessert or a bigger bowl of soup and hand a tray full in as a very welcome treat.

It's an expensive time of year with more heating and food needed, warmer clothes and shoes to keep every one warm. Some find it difficult to make ends meet, some just find this time of year depressing and lonely.

Please, if you have a spare bowl of soup at the bottom of your pan, or one last piece of cake, why not knock on your neighbours door, and say ' Hi, we had this left and thought you would like it! Or if you are going to the shops, knock on the door and say ' Is there anything you need', Or if you see a bargain, why not buy an extra one and hand it in as a treat.

Please never forget everyone needs someone and often many have no-one.

Even if you have had a fall out with your neighbour over the years, let bygones be bygones and if you don't see them for a few days, check they are okay.

On behalf of millions of people all over the world as well people in your area, thank you.

We all do our best to guide people towards a healthier lifestyle as well as a fairer outlook on all who we are surrounded by, no matter whether animal or human and no matter how many miles away they are in the world. As you all know we are extremely supportive of all to be able to have their voice and choice, and actively encourage the weaker to feel stronger so that they do not feel pressurised by those who come across as being threatening or who threaten via words or actions. From previous posts you will all have guessed by now, that we are particularly fond, extremely concerned and supportive of the 'Elephant World' and its' future existence as well as the Animal world who share this planet Earth with us. Firstly, we would like to thank Elephant Nature Park, The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust,Wildlife S.O.S Teresa, Patty, Becca, Lek and all the special Elephant Carers, for passing on their concerns regarding the future of the Elephant world. On top of our own concerns all your input towards this presentation completely helped to bring the Elephants real world to the fore. On behalf of many presently living Elephants and the millions of elephants who have brutally had to pass on against their own choice thank you.Having had the absolute privilege to be invited to speak to about 200+ S 1 students and Teachers at a High School regarding the near extinction of elephants - sparked by our knowledge of the fact that 100's of years ago there were about 10 million elephants who walked the Earth yet in the 1900's only a few million and, sadly, today approximately only 450,000 worldwide - - which means, approximately, 35,000 die each year, 96 die per day and on average 1 every 15 minutes is brutally killed or dies from being poisoned or by the cruel methods in which many future isolated and captured elephants are trained through the 'crushing' method and other totally unnecessary and cruel ways or who die from sheer exhaustion from logging or from their spirits being totally broken in to smithereens, like a piece of glass is shattered in to a thousands pieces! With not being so hot on maths! we asked the students if they could work out how many elephants are killed during the time they leave for school and return from school and they were totally shocked at their answers being in the region of 32. We then asked them how many were killed during the time they were asleep from their beautiful peaceful slumber, once again they were shocked at their answer being on average 40! Prior to this presentation a couple of the students had been asked to create something that might resemble a bull hook (bearing in mind that many of these Temples and Outback's do not have access to shops to buy bull hooks) they came up with something very simple - two bits of wood with nails sticking out at the top, and sides! and suggested that taking a rope might be a good idea as, thankfully, we had no access to spiked chains to show them!

Two students vision of some older fashioned bull hooks

Although this school, like most, and us all in fact, have covered deforestation, the pollution humans create in the air, the land the sea and by human brute force, never did they or their Teachers realise the figures of animals who are suffering (including humans) were so high. Nor did they realise that on average 28,000 species are going to become extinct within the next quarter of a century or that roughly 4,500 acres of forest are being cleared by forest fires or that 20% of the worlds oxygen is created in the Amazon, or that 37% of Methane Emissions are as a result of factory farming. Or indeed that The fossil fuels used in energy, transportation, and synthetic pesticides/fertilizers emits approximately 90 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every year. Or that one million sea birds are killed each year by the ingestion of plastics. When you say it all in one breath, it is indeed extremely alarming.

But you, know the most serious thing out of all of this is, at the end, when asked who is the cruellest creature on this planet their answers were not any of the living creatures that we call animals but it was humans ourselves. yes, it is humans who are polluting the air, land and sea and who are exposing pollution via inhalation, ingestion and absorption! As for the animals, actually they, for many a year have done the planet many a favour by planting seeds naturally, encouraging the 'circle of life' in nature's very own way without the 'human created chemicals or wish to speed up the process of what ever - all for financial gain! So back on to elephants, the Students were asked if they had ever been to a zoo, some hands went up, but naturally many had never heard of the antics that become so repetitive when an animal is kept in solitude, so we did not dwell on this point too much. Then there were the 'lucky' ones who had been on a Safari, they had seen them free or at least in a grassy large compound. Others were asked if they had ridden an elephant, again, some said yes and told the rest of the class where this happened. The question was also asked - 'had any of them ever ridden a horse' - quite number had said yes, but after explaining that actually the anatomy of an elephant in comparison with a horse was completely different and that they did not have the same ligament structure to cope with heavy weights from above or indeed have the same back bone structure to cope with the various ways that humans instruct them to sit on a ball or balance on their noses or bottoms! or to walk on their hind legs! Once again after basically explaining this the Students were quite upset that had they known all this they would not have ridden an elephant or had cheered at the circus when the elephants were doing their human controlled 'acts'!With regards logging, there were only a few words for this ' why push an elephant to its' death when we don't push ourselves to death or indeed inflict the same 'cruel' techniques to train a human to study Geography or Maths as an example. The question was asked, is there any way that an animal such as an elephant can be trained in a more considerate manner, with more respect and understanding. The answer was, we believe so. 50/50 communication and understanding is the only way forward with any animal, human included. We asked the students if they would like to be tied by spiked chains for 50 years with little or no freedom, or to be crushed with all two legs and arms tied and to get prodded with a bull hook or five! Electric shocked, beaten just for the sake of it, or just because they showed no signs of being interested in Geography for example! or whether they would like to be chained and beaten for the ten years while at school and only fed the food that their teacher felt they should have. Their heads lowered filled with the sheer thought of this!The question was also asked ' Do Elephants feel the same emotions as humans?' the answer was indeed they do, they feel the same grief and often for longer, often returning to where there loved ones lost their lives for many a year after, they have the same cognitive behaviour as humans, they feel fear, joy and empathy and are highly acknowledged and praised for their intelligence. One of our comments was ' it is actually humans who should be learning about Social behaviour and life in general from the Elephants of this planet and not be steered purely by greed, or financial greed. It is totally possible for all living creatures to share this Earth, just as they used to many years ago, as long as there is respect and understanding for each other.One of the Students said, 'but some Elephants are now being born without tusks - as if there is an inner instinct not to grow them!' Another said 'I will never ride an elephant again' Another ' Had I known Elephants went through such training as I have seen today I would never ever have ridden one'During this presentation not only did we briefly touch on Logging elephants, supposedly ride-able elephants or circus elephants but we also touched on Elephants at Zoos, particularly the ones who were kept in solitude or the ones who have no access to a proper green belt where they can freely forage but we gave some examples of Carla and Pearl, but in particular Carla who was at the back of a zoo as thin as a slither of greenhouse glass, and the damage that can become of all the rubbish that humans eat at zoos and just leave lying around resulting in the elephants picking up the coke cans, the popcorn packets, the sweet papers etc , resulting in blockages within the gut. Just as many sea life creatures suffer from the amount of toxic plastic eaten, trapped and digested under water.

How many zoos have you been to that have had a doze of rubbish in the corners of the pens or enclosures depending on which way the wind is blowing! How many of the birds in school play grounds suffer from the amount of rubbish that is not put in the bin or chewing gum that is left loitering at the edges for the Gulls and other birds to pick up on and who subsequently suffer just as we are quietly and silently suffering from the toxins in the air, land and sea and who by - Human kind, certainly not the animals! We also covered the fantastic work of many Elephant groups as well as Elephant Nature ParkWildlife S.O.SThe David SheldrickWildlife Trust and The Carol Buckley Chain Free Corals as examples of people and their teams who are definitely making a difference to the Elephant Health and their long term Well-Being and existence. We brought up the unique ability that Lek Chailert has by being able to speak to the Forest tribes on an equal footing, in each individuals language and not in a 'dictatorial fashion', a way that the Mahout realises that for some of their elephants it is kinder to release them to Elephant Nature Park or somewhere similar, depending on where they are in the world of course.The Students were shown some footages of Navaan on his third birthday, within which there were clips of him playing with a massive long piece of tape, he then managed to get it stuck round a tree, which immediately showed to us that Elephants could To finish on a cheery note they were also told about the amazing story of other Elephants as well as Queen #Kabu Kabu the Elephant with the broken leg who had been used for Logging for 20 years but who is now free to roam! which certainly cheered them up after seeing and hearing some rather more horrific pictures. So to cap it all in a nutshell there were enough minutes at the end of each 45 minute Session, which were divided up in to about 5 Groups of in between 25 and 50 Students, to ask them and the Teachers what they thought of the days Presentation 1 Informative2 Frightening3 Extremely sad 4 They had no idea that these Majestic Creatures of this Planet (which is not ours) were treated in such ways prior to any form of Training for Circus Acts, Riding Tours, Logging experiences or some of those in Temple Situations5 They would not ride an Elephant again6 They would start to put all their rubbish in a bin7 Humans are the cruellest animals on this planet8 The Majority of Humans are self controlled by financial gain7 But the most important one mentioned was by a young Male student who said ' 50/50 Communication is the one that struck a chord in me, remembering that every one and creature is different and has their own language. Our second last comment was ' You know, the saying out of sight out of mind is so true isn't it, perhaps we should change it round and say ' always in mind but out of sight!'Our very last suggestion was that if any of them would like to either draw a picture, write a story, or for those who found writing and drawing difficult if they were to record their thoughts or perhaps even create a short film we would assess them all, and the best one would win the sponsor of an Elephant for a year from which ever Elephant Sanctuary they chose and that the closing date for Entries would be the 10th December 2016. We have since heard that the main Teacher of this Group has suggested that they have a Fundraiser with a view to Sponsoring their very own Elephant - how wonderful is this. So so proud of them all. Knowing we only had 45 minutes per Group we tried to cover all aspects of pollution, exploitation, the Ivory trade the brutal behaviour that human beings seems to think is acceptable and much more, but in a way that was fun and as interactive as possible, without them being tied down by chains, spurs and being struck by bull hooks. The result has been amazing and apparently these Students are still talking about the Session shared. So we can just about take for granted 200+ students and the Teachers involved will, from here on in, take a second thought next time they see an Elephant doing something that they were not born to do as well as try their best to make this planet healthier for all. We must add that all the Students behaved impeccably and showed that they care about the future of this Planet that is not ours to control in the first place. Thank you all so much for reading this post and if there is anything you can do to encourage your local Schools and Colleges to become more aware please, please try and organise it or if you need a hand or would like us to guide or help you, please just ask. This particular Session was triggered because the Geography Class had covered Deforestation . . an ideal topic to introduce the animals who are becoming extinct. It only took a full morning to open the eyes and minds of 200 + individuals including Teachers, that's 200+ more than the night before the Session took place. On behalf of all who have suffered in the past, still suffer but also on behalf of those who are now free and safe thank you so much.

Tuesday, 17 November 2015

We were very lucky to have been handed down a stethoscope a number of years ago. But as many people do, when someone's asks if you have something and you say 'yes, would you like to borrow it?' the answer nine times out of ten is 'yes please' and so off it goes, but then when you need it a few months later or a few years later you forget altogether who you gave it to! a bit like ' O, yes, of course you can borrow such and such a book, as long as you can get it back!' but the latter always seems to be the problem! or you forget who you gave it to, just as we did with our aged but very precious Stethoscope.

So we decided to attempt to make one, and it works a treat. So, in the event you need one, and don't have a medical store beside you or indeed anyone who you could borrow one from this is what you will need.

1 A 4 ft length of plastic hollow pipe (preferably soft rubber)

2 A 1'6" ft long piece of garden wire

3 Some strong tape or insulating tape

4 A balloon

5 A plastic top off a bottle of juice or water bottle

Tools needed

1 A pair of scissors

2 Something to make a whole with

3 An extra pair of hands at the end (for placing the balloon on)

4 Glue

METHOD

1 Bend the 1'6" of wire in to a 'U' shape

2 Cut just over 1'9" of rubber piping

3 Central the wire to the centre of the 1'9" rubber piping

4 Tape both the wire and piping together off centre by about 2"

5 Tape the end of the wire ( so that the sharp end is neither visible

or potentially sore) to about 1 or 2 inches before the end of

the rubber piping

6 Repeat this at the other end ( so that the wire never ends up any

where near the end of the rubber piping)

7 Make a slit in the centre of the U piping that is now attached to

the wire

8 (Ask an adult to help with this section) Take the plastic bottle

top and make a hole slightly smaller than the pipe width in the lid.

9 Stick the rubber piping through the lids' hole and tape gently

together but making sure that you leave the open ended section of the bottle to the outside and that the piping just goes through the lid and no more.

1 Take the U section of rubber and the long end of the second

piece of piping, stick the end without the top in to the slit /small

hole in the centre of the the U Piping.

2 Glue where the two end pieces of rubber join the slit as well as

the cap and tape over the glue.

3 Wait to dry

4 Take the balloon, cut off the narrower end and with the rest of

the balloon stretch it over the bottle cap.

And there you have a Stethoscope.

Check it on your own heart first.

Well done you have succeeded.

If you want to make a bigger one for larger animals then you could uses the neck of a bottle and longer piping a the end.

Tuesday, 10 November 2015

Can any one help - - - this needs to end up on someone's lap who could trigger a massive change - we are sure there must be someone who can help - - 100 years ago in Thailand there were 100,000 elephants now there are only 2,841. In Africa in 1970 there were 1.3 million, now there are only 400,000, many young die through the 'crushing' method. As one school girl said ' By the time I leave for school and get back in the late afternoon 36 elephants have been cruelly killed and poached for their ivory, it doesn't leave much hope for in 10 years time' This same girl has decided to do a tray-bake day at her School to raise awareness of our Elephants cries. The saying 'out of sight out of mind' in these cases needs to be 'in mind though out of sight' More humans need to realise what is going on in the real world and help to support sanity, fairness, and well-being for all - this planet after all, was not created by us . . it is shared by many and this is the way it should remain, so please humans try and stop killing, poisoning both air land and sea, for at the end you are also destroying humans in more ways than one.

CAUTION THERE ARE SOME NASTY SCENES IN THIS .. BUT IT IS REAL, AND HAPPENS FAR FAR TOO OFTEN.

If you can watch it all then you have a heart of steel, if you can't then your heart is big and yes, you can help to make a change. If you scroll down to the bottom of this link there is a comment box . . . . or if you know someone who could help at a higher level . . then even better.

Wednesday, 4 November 2015

In all the things we are asked to do one of our most favoured is giving an animal his/her choice and voice in life and seeing their choice becoming reality. Often humans dictate what 'they' think is best for the animal, or perhaps due to a financial pressure many an animal is not given their choice, least of all their voice. To name a few, we have come across Horses who would prefer to do cross country instead of dressage - often because of the pain Dressage can cause by the taught form of riding, Horses who would prefer to jump instead of doing flat racing - often because of memories, Horses who would rather be happy hackers instead of jumpers - often because of historic accidents, memories or discomfort, horses who would rather not do dressage but are happy to jump. Dogs who would prefer not to herd sheep, dogs who would prefer not to do agility but work away at search and rescue instead. Dogs who would prefer to be 'pickers up' instead of hunters.We have come across horses who want to be given the chance to trust and have, wholeheartedly, given their all to trust again, when others would never have given them the time or the energy needed to initiate this trust, Horses with broken legs who Vets have felt should be put down, yet, after the Horses being asked, and then answered by saying they were not ready to be put down and have, to the surprise of many, survived way beyond the Vets words and indeed years. Horses who did not want to be moved on from a certain area, Horses who wanted to move from one field to another because of a previous experience or loss of an equine friend or a sense of the area being unsafe.What more of a delight could we ask for than to be part of creating or initiating or planting the seed for an animals wishes to become a reality. One of our latest request was from a person who was given an aged Gelding on loan, a horse who had been out on loan, bought and sold, not just once but quite a few times. In this case there had been a, more or less, instant request for him to be returned to his owner, with a view to her potentially selling him on so that she could buy another horse.With out being given much of a warning, the Loanee had to break the sad news to her children, one of whom is classed as disabled. Although this type of news is often inevitable when a horse is out on Loan, most people give ample enough warning when an animal 'is wanted' back, but, in this case it was a matter of 4 or 5 days! With all of the family having grown attached to this Gelding and the Gelding clearly having grown attached to them plus with the fact that he had never seen his 'true owner' for more than a year. nor had there been even a phone call to check to see if the horse was happy or not, although there was the odd comment as a reply to some of the photographs which had been posted up on to a Public Media Platform but otherwise no contact had been made at all. Not only had the Loanee family got used to his ways, but the Gelding had, to his clear delight, found himself half way up the pecking order, which we believe prior to his arrival his place had been at the bottom quite some time. When he arrived his coat was pretty thick with mud, his tail tangled all in all, not groomed or at the very least straight off a muddy field or paddock. The Loanee had also been told that he had to be drugged, costing around 200.00 per time, to have his fetlocks shaved off and that when tending to his hind legs he would rather charge you instead and that he would certainly not stand still. In the full year that the Loanee had this Gelding, not once did he offer to kick, charge, move while his fetlocks were being tended to, he also, contrary to what the owner said, was happy to be kept in a barn, never offering to barge or showing signs of being unsettled. He, on his first day struck up a relationship and was fascinated with a Ginger cat, who always seems to be the newby ' welcomer! Although at the beginning he clearly was a bit unsure of lambs and offered them toadie faces but it didn't take long till he struck up a bond with them, allowing them to lie down beside him and to pinch some of his feed (without any kicking matches). After about a two weeks he came in from being on the periphery and joined two of the horses, staying away from one of them - and quite rightly so actually! He then started to groom a couple of them and allowed them to groom him - just as horses do in the wild or when given a chance, and as time went on he could be seen giving and taking more grooming sessions from all of the horses around him. So yes, he had definitely found a place of comfort and equality as well as an understanding of each other whether horse, sheep or human. He, on occasions, could be seen to ask to come in on his own accord without any other company and seemed totally content just dozing in his own wee world watching the world go by and accepting any tlc offered by whoever passed him.

an he gradually meets others.

Then a lady friend who seemed more like a Wife / Soul mate,

This was such a wonderful bond, a true bond

And what this Gelding enjoys doing the most is

teaching and being with children and telling them they need to understand his

specific language and then he will do what they ask!

A little like life .. you need to be able to go on to

each individuals wave length before getting a positive result!

And horse time . . .

And what better a photo to finish with than

one lucky family and, one lucky horse

So having seen a few pictures of his past year and to go back to where we were, an aged horse, roughly 22, who had experienced one full year with this family gaining trust, care, love, daily attention (and more), who had found his place in a small herd, then all of a sudden the owner wanted him back so that she could sell him and get another horse, all within a matter of 4 days, was perhaps not that thoughtful towards the animal as an individual.

If he went back, he would probably be with his present owner for a few weeks, possibly a couple of months, then sold or loaned on to yet another person where he would have to spend another x amount of months getting to know her/him, by which time he would be 24'ish!

From what his present owner had said prior to the Loanee taking him on, he had had a few homes, both bought and on loan and the question this time round was, is it fair that a horse of his age has to potentially go through more homes or should he be given the chance to have his own voice and choice, and this is where we stepped in.

Now another little thing that made this Horse unique was his flatulence, he has to be the worlds best at this. His usual flatulence can last up to about 5 to 10 seconds

On going in to see this Gelding to ask him his thoughts, although settled to start with he seemed unsettled a bit, as if he knew something was up. He stopped eating and came and stood beside us, halterless, with his head lowered. It was a beautiful still evening with the stars gleaming up above so there was no reason for him to be unsettled. However, after asking him a few questions similar to;

Do you want to go back to your previous owner?

Are you happy here?

Do you want to stay under the care of your present Loanee and her family?

and receiving the answers, he immediately turned his head round, let off the largest and longest wind we ever had heard, almost as if it was his way of showing the feeling of sheer relief that he could stay if the owner allowed or if the funds the owner requested could be raised.

But what happened next totally moved us, he placed his head on Judi's shoulder and started to doze off - This was the first time that he had actually dozed off on one of our shoulders and what a heavy head he has! he almost had Judi sinking in to the ground! It was a beautiful moment none the less and one that we will never ever forget.

With him showing clear signs of his his request being heard we decided we would do everything possible to help his Loanee finally own him and try our hardest to make his request become a reality.

Over the following couple of days the Owner started to put more pressure on, but a day or two after that, we are delighted to say, everything was resolved. But from the moment we asked him what he wanted, his whole body language and mental state changed for the better, he seemed doubly relaxed, and almost grateful.

After another couple of days, this Geldings New owner was so, so pleased and couldn't believe that, she had given this horse the chance of a permanent home. As she has often said, she hates to see an animal being moved on from pillar to post, ' I wouldn't like it, and I am sure no ones kids would like it if they were forced to move on to a completely different type of animals home to its own kind, especially at an older age. Would you put your Granny or Grandfather out to a house full of bears for example! So why should we as humans dictate the same for other animals! With now owning this horse, the owner was keen to make contact with his previous owner, that's the one before the one she just bought him from. Apparently this lady happened to live only about 25 miles away from her. She asked the Lady some questions about his past and discovered a few things that she was not told by the owner who she had loaned him from in the first place. The most concerning one was that there was an instruction passed on that this Gelding should not be jumped, due to a ligament issue earlier in his life, yet a few of the videos sent to his now new owner, prior to her having him on loan in the first place, was of him jumping at competitions!So, apart from, yet another animal being given his choice and voice, there are a couple of simple tips which we would like you all to follow when either sending a horse out on loan or indeed taking one on loan or better still before the horse is even moved

Please, when able, give all animals their choice and voice in life, we have ours what makes humans think they should control other animals of our planet choice in life.

If you are stuck and want to know what your horse truly wants to do, then email us.